KAZAN // Katie Ledecky lowered her world record by 3.61 seconds in winning the 800 metres freestyle for her fifth gold medal at the world swimming championships on Saturday night.
The 18-year-old American completed the 16-lap race in eight minutes, 7.39 seconds, bettering her time of 8:11.00 set last year at a meet in the United States.
Ledecky completed a sweep of the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyles at Kazan. She swam the anchor leg on the victorious 4x200 free relay, too, giving her five golds with one day remaining in the meet.
Ledecky had been 3.09 seconds under world-record pace with three laps remaining and tore off one of her two swim caps and smashed the water with her hand in celebration of her third world record in Russia.
Chad le Clos defended his title in the 100m butterfly, rallying late to edge Laszlo Cseh in the absence of Olympic champion Michael Phelps.
The South African was second at the turn and then poured it on down the stretch, touching in 50.56 seconds. Cseh was second in 50.87 and Joseph Schooling of Britain, who led at the turn, finished third in 50.96.
Le Clos slapped the water with his right hand, then pounded his chest. His father frantically urged him on from the stands, raising his arms and bellowing when his son got to the wall first.
“I said, ‘Dad, don’t worry. I’m more confident now in the 100 than I was in the 200’,” Le Clos said. “After that defeat I would break my arm before I lose tonight. I would cut it off. I won’t lose.”
Phelps has missed the past two worlds and Le Clos has emerged as the fly king in his absence.
Phelps retired after winning the 100 fly at the 2012 London Games and he was at worlds in Barcelona only as a spectator.
The 18-time Olympic gold medallist qualified for the meet at Kazan but was forced to sit out as a result of his suspension by USA Swimming for a second drunken driving arrest.
Half a world away in Texas, Phelps swam the 100 fly preliminaries at the US nationals in 52.12 on Saturday, hours after winning the 200 fly with his best time since setting the world record in 2009.
“I’m just very happy that he’s back to his good form, so he can’t come out and say, ‘Oh, I haven’t been training’ or all that rubbish that he’s been talking,” Le Clos said. “I’ll relish the opportunity to race him again. He’s a great competitor and he was a hero to me growing up.
“Next year is going to be Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier.”
Le Clos was coming off a disappointing second-place finish in the 200 fly behind Cseh, who has emerged as a medal threat for next year’s Olympics after a resurgence in Kazan. The Hungarian has won three medals, including a bronze in the 50 fly.
Florent Manaudou won the 50 free to go with his Olympic title.
The Frenchman claimed swimming’s glamour event in 21.19 seconds, fastest in the world this year.
Nathan Adrian of the United States finished second in 21.52. Bruno Fratus of Brazil took third in 21.55.
Defending champion Missy Franklin faltered in the 200 backstroke, getting overtaken down the stretch by Emily Seebohm of Australia, who touched in two minutes, 5.81 seconds to complete a sweep of the backstroke events.
The men’s 100 and 200 back titles went to Australia’s Mitchell Larkin, claiming both in a double that inspired Seebohm.
“He even said to me, ‘go out there and get that double. I know you can do that’,” she said. “Just hearing that from him and seeing how hard he’s worked, I know I’ve worked just as hard.”
Seebohm took the race out hard, dipping under Franklin’s world-record pace on the first lap. Franklin took over for the next two laps and owned a slight advantage heading to the finish before Seebohm rallied from third to win.
Sarah Sjostrom earned her second gold, claiming the 50 butterfly, a non-Olympic event. The Swede won in 24.96. She also won the 100 fly and finished second in the 100 freestyle.
Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark was second and Lu Ying of China was third.
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